Stanley Ho (何鴻燊) is to become the latest Hong Kong billionaire to step away from the empire he built, passing along the top roles at casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd (澳門博彩控股) to his heirs. Analysts are watching to see how smooth the transition will be.
The 96-year-old Macau casino tycoon is to retire as chairman and executive director of SJM after a June 12 shareholders’ meeting, a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said on Thursday.
He is to become chairman emeritus, while Daisy Ho (何超鳳), his 53-year-old daughter, is to take on his roles. Angela Leong (梁安琪), 57, Ho’s wife and SJM’s second-largest shareholder, is to act as cochair with another executive director, the statement said.
SJM’s shares yesterday jumped as much as 11 percent, the most in three years, in early trading in Hong Kong amid a rally in casino stocks. Investors have been eager for the company to simplify its convoluted management structure, though the succession plan still leaves the casino operator with a chairman and two cochairs.
“While [Stanley] Ho hasn’t been involved in the operations for many years, we can’t help but think that the proposed board structure is a bit messy,” JPMorgan Chase & Co analyst DS Kim said in a note. “This complicated structure, in our view, leaves room for a potential power tussle within the board, given the lack of clear control.”
Kim is looking for a clearer plan, such as a single chairperson, to fine-tune SJM’s corporate structure before the opening of the operator’s first property in Macau’s key Cotai district next year.
Stanley Ho’s move follows the retirement of Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-Shing (李嘉誠), last month. While Li, 89, stayed close to the business operations of CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd (長和集團) and CK Asset Holdings Ltd (長江實業) before his retirement, Stanley Ho for years has not participated significantly in his businesses or attended public events.
Daisy Ho joined SJM as executive director in June last year. Leong, who successfully fended off a messy family dispute in 2011 that was mounted by family members, has been managing the casino operator for years.
Stanley Ho’s son Lawrence Ho (何猷龍) is chief executive officer of casino operator Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd (新濠博亞娛樂).
Stanley Ho built his casino business with the help of a four-decade monopoly and growing numbers of gamblers who emerged from China’s economic expansion, turning Macau into the world’s biggest gambling hub.
However, SJM has lost ground to its peers, with Las Vegas Sands Corp’s Macau unit and Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd (銀河娛樂) surpassing SJM’s gaming revenue as they provided more entertainment offerings to leisure gamblers and tourists.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS